Nelson mbeeill



(N0 Model.)

N, MERRILL.,V

, n TRICYCLE.

No, 291,376.V Patented Jan. l*l 1884.

To all whom 15m/ay concern.-

NiTED STATES y PATENT Urraca.

NELsON MERRILL, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

TRICYCLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 291576, dated January1, leeft.' Application and May smsen. (Notifica.)

` Be it known that L N ELsON MERRILL, of the city, county, and State ofNew York, have invented a new and u'seful Improvement in Tricycles; andI do hereby declare that the 'following is a full and exact descriptionthereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to theletters of reference marked thereon, making a part of thisspecification.

\ My invention relates to an improvement in tricycles, and more`especially to the improved tricycle for which Letters Patent of theUnited States were granted to me November 22, 1881,

No. 249,853, but whichis applicable as well to other forms of machines.l

`It consists in the combination of thepitinanrods which actuate thesaddle-lever with short cranks upon an auxiliary idle-shaft, which isalso formed or fitted with cranks corresponding with the foot-cranksupon the driving-axle, so as to loe, in fact, a duplicate thereof, yand'which is supported in suitable bearings upon the frame in front of saidaxle, to revolve freely in line parallel therewith, and in thecombination, with the wrists of the corresponding cranks on the shaftand axle, of coupling-bars carrying the pedals or serving as treadlesfor the machine, and to connect said cranks, and so bent or arranged asto bring the weight of the rider in front of the axle, and to supportthe operators feet at a distance above the cranks during their entirerevolution.

The object of this part 'of my invention `is to obtain an increase ofleverage upon eachdrivling-crank without increasing the travel ofthefoot in operating the crank, to bring the foot farther forward and in amore natural and 'easyposition when at work, the rider being seated overor in front of the axle, and to obtain an effective forward thrustagainst the cranks as the saddle descends under the weight of theri er.It consists, furthermore, in the combination of a suitable steering-gearwith the lever upon which the seatis mounted, and which is pivotedmmediately to the tubular standard in which the fork or post carrying the`steeringwheelrotates. p

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a Vside elevation of myimproved tricycle with allel shaft, C, placed in front thereof. The for`ward end or reach, NV, of the frame A is firmly secured to a verticaltubular standard, D, through which, as a pivotal bearing, the upper endof the fork E, carrying the front steering-wheel, F, is carried. Theaxle B is formed with two pedal-cranks, c a, disposed at an an- *gle ofone hundred and twenty degrees with each other, and outside of thesewith two shorter seat-cranks, one at each end, projecting both in thesame plane at an angle of one hundred and twenty degrees with thepedal-cranks, in manner as set forth in my aforesaid Letters Patent ofNovember 22, 1881. 'Ihe parallel shaft Gis mounted in front of thecranked axle B at a distance therefrom somewhat exceeding the length ofthe pedal-cranks, to rotate freely in suitable bearings upon the frame.It is constructed with a series of cranks corresponding in all respectswith the cranks on the axle Br Pedals G G are supported immediately overthe wrists of the pedal-cranks c on the idleshaft C, each upon aconnecting-rod, cd, pivoted at its front end, c, to the wrist of thefront crank, a', and. at vits rear end, d, to thecorrespendingpedal-cranlea, ontheaxle. Bymeans of this connecting-rod cd the two cranks a a` are not onl y coupled together so that they shall,

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effective action, without, however, increasing the length of the strokeor up-and-down movement of the foot in operating it. (Seediagram, Fig.4.) The seat-cranks e e on the axle may likewise be coupled with thecounterpart seatcranks c e on the idle-shaft by straight connecting-barsH H. The seat or saddle K of the machine is fitted directly over orsomewhat in front of the axle B upon the rear end of a long lever-,.L,which is pivoted at its front endl to the upper 4end of an upright bar,M, Fig. 1. The lower end of the bar M is pivoted tol the reach NV of theframe, so that its upper end shall be free to vibrate slightly within ashackle or loop, t', by which it is tied tothe upper end of the standardD. The saddle K is connected to the seat-cranks e c by means of tworods, J J, pivoted to the saddle or its lever L, and whose lower endsare seen red each to one of the bars H H, or pivoted directly to oneofthe cranks e c. The upward movement of thereciprocating rods J J,actuated by the cranks e c', produce an upward movement of theseat-lever and seat, while the downward movement of the seat, under theweight of they rider, actuates the cranks, and is thereby utilized inthe propulsion of the machine. A sprocket-wheel, N, Fig. 2, is mountedupon a vertical spindle, which is supported and pivoted in a bracket onthe seat-lever L. and terminates in a handle, P, within easy reach of aperson seated on the saddle K.. A chain is led around the sprocket-wheelN, and its ends are Yconnected directly-or by means of intermediatecords or rods, Q Q, with the two ends of a handle, R, upon the upper endof the fork E, carrying the front wheel, F, so that the rotation of thewheel N, produced by manipulating the handle l?, will actuatc the handleR, and

with it the front wheel, F, to turn it in either direction. A horizontalwheel or segment may 'be substituted for the handle R as an equivalentdevice to actuate the fork E.

S S are brake-shoes upon the ends of a hori- 4Zonta-l bar, S', properlysupported in brackets under the front bar of the frame A, and which isdrawn to or carried from the driving-wheels F F' by means of a compoundlever, whose two arms, T T, hinged together, are each pivoted to thearms of a bracket provided therefor, vand which is secured upon thereach WV, as shown in Fig. 1. The lower end of the lower arm, T, iscoupled to the brake-bar S or to a link extending thereto. The upper endofthe upper arm, T, is fitted with a pedal, U, By applying the pressureof the foot to saidpedal U, and thereby vibrating the upper' arm, T, apowerful leverage is exerted upon the lower arm, T', and through it uponthe bar S, operating to draw the brake-shoes against thewheels.

In. the modification in the construction of the'machine illustrated inFig. 3, theseatcranks c c. on the axle are omitted therefrom, leavingonly the pedal-cranks to be connected idle-shaft C. In such case thereciprocating seat-rods J J are pivoted directly tothe wrists ofseat-cranks e `.fz/,formed upon said idle-shaft, as shown in Fig. 3. Ifdesired, a reverse movement'of the driving-wheels maybe automaticallyprevented by means of pawls fv c, pivoted to the axle, to engageratchet-wheels x fr on the hub of each wheel.

In the use of my improved tricycle, constructed as described, the weightof the rider mounted upon the saddle K is brought into constant andeffective operation for the propulsion of the machine. In operating themachine, the rider, seated in the saddle immediately over or somewhat infront of the axle, places his feet upon the pedals, which are in frontof the axle and of the riders body, and within easy and natural reach ofthe feet at all points of their revolution. As the weight of theuppermost foot is brought to bear uponv its pedal, the two connectedcranks are thereby made to revolve, and as the foot is carried forwardand downward a leverage is exerted upon the cranks, which increases asthe crankarm approaches the horizontal. Vhile there is this. gain inleverage upon the crank, the i throw or movementof the footis notincreased, the sweep of the pedal vertically and horizontally beingdetermined by the length of the crank alone, irrespective ofthe form orlength of the coupling-bars, as is illustrated by the dottedlines inFig. 4f. So soon as pressure upon one foot has brought the crank uponwhich it bears beyond the line of most effective leverage, the crankunder the second foot IOO has attained a point in the revolution whereit becomes most effective under the application of weight and powerthereto to produce a rotation of the shaft; and when in its movement ithas passed beyond the point of effectl ive leverage, and the crank underthe first foot is still rising, and hence is inoperative, theseat-cranks reach their point of effective leverage, and the weight ofthe rider, being thereupon transferred from the pedal wholly,

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to the seat, operates effectively upon said cranks until the first footcan be again brought effectively into play.

The location of the pedals upon the coupling-bars c d, which connect thecrank upon A the axle with cranks upon an idle-shaft, by means whereofthe weight of the driver is thrown in front of the axle, and theconnec-` tion of the seat placed over the axle, with the cranks on theidle-shaft in front of the axle, which operates as a driving-shaft,bymeans whereof the weight of the driver, when not used effectively uponthe pedals', is applied .with aforward thrust against the seat-cranks,

serve to increase largely the efficiency of the machine, and to insuresimply and practically a direct and positive application of the-weightand muscular power ofthe rider to-the cranks and wheels without anyincrease in the moveinent of the foot and legs over that required by therods cd with counterpart cranks on the i in the most approved forms ofbicycles and tricycles. Moreover, by reason of the position of thepedals with relation to the saddle and the steering-handle on thesaddle-bar, when the weight of the rider is thrown upon the pedals, hemay grasp the handle, and, by pulling thereon as he rises from thesaddle to bear upon the pedals, may lift the seatlever, and thus exertan upward pull upon the seat-cranks, which will greatly. assist ineffecting a revolution of the wheels. At the same time, by straighteningout his iiexed arms and knees, he is enabled to exert with ease apowerful muscular force, which will be brought to bear in addition'tohis mere Weight torce, directly upon the cranks in propelling themachine. I contemplate, furthermore, aiding this up-pull with the handsin rising by means of shoulder-straps led over the shoulders of therider, and secured at either end to the saddle or its pitman-rods, sothat by slightly straightening the body as well as the legs, in makingthe rise in the saddle, the up-pull on the seat-lever, as well asthedown-push on the cranks, will beincreased or enforced, while theshoulder-straps will also afford a certain support to the rider whenthus working the machine. Ireserve the right to make this feature of myinvention the subject-matter of a separate application for LettersPatent. The down-push of the seat in descending may also be increasedbya simultaneous counter up-pull'upon the cranks, with the toes ofthe feetagainst the straps secured for the purpose over the ends of the pedals.rlhe pedal-cranks on the axle and idle-shaft nrly be coupled by straightbars connected to the one and the other, instead of by the bent bars cd, as shown, the latter being preferred in order to throw the feet moreto the front, and to permit a higher adj ustment of the seat, and abetter alignment of the pitman-rods extending diagonally thereto fromthe seatcranks.

I contemplate the use of the parallel idleshaft formed with cranks thecounterpart of the cranks upon the axle, in the construction ofvelocipedes adapted to carry twopersons, with three cranks one hundredand twenty degrees apart, in which the middle crank is operated by thetwo adjacent feet of the riders bearing jointly thereon and the other,two cranks by the right foot of the one and the left foot of the other.

It is evident that the power applied by the within-described devices toproduce the rotation of the axle of a velocipede may be employed bysimilar ,devices to drive a shaft rotating in xed bearings for use as amotor, and I contemplate such an application of my invention. y

I purposeto make hereafter the use of shoulder-straps. and also theconstruction4 of a machine to accommodate two persons, thesubject-matter of separate Letters Patent, and to claim therein suchdevices herein described as may be novel in that connection.

I claim as my invention-` 1. In a velocipede or motor, the combination,with its axle or driving-shaft, a seat mounted to vibrate verticallyover the same, and an idle-shaft rotating in line parallel with the axleor driving shaft, of one or more cranks formed on said idle-shaft andcoupled by pitman-rods with the vibrating seat or seat-lever,pedal-cranks also formed on said shaft at an angle of about one hundredand twenty degrees with each other and with the seat-cranks, andcounterpart pedal-cranks formed on the axle or driving-shaft, andcoupled by connecting-bars with the pedal-cranks on the idleshaft,substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein set forth.

2. The combination, with the rotating fork or spindle carrying thesteering-wheel ota velocipede,a vibrating lever pivoted to the standardsupporting said fork and l actuated by cranks upon the axle or acounterpart idleshaft driven thereby, and a seat fitted upon thelevertopartake ot'its movement, of a steering wheel or handle mounted upon saidlever within reach of the rider upon the seat and geared to the fork orspindle of the drivingwheel, substantially in the manner and for thepurpose herein set forth.

3. The combination, in a velocipede or motor, with the counterpartpedal-cranks upon its driving-axle and auxiliary idle-shaft, of a pedalbar or bars adapted to uphold the foot 4of the operator above the crankof the idle-` shaft during its entire revolution, and to couple saidcrank with the corresponding crank upon the driving-axle, substantiallyin the manner and for the purpose herein set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this speci lication in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

NELSON MERRILL.

Witnesses:

C. FRED. LATTOUT, A. B. MOORE.

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